The number of hospitals excluded from load-shedding across the country has increased from 37 to 72 since September after health minister Joe Phaahla stepped in to mitigate the impact of rolling power outages on the provision of essential health services.
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The health department said it had provided Eskom with 212 priority hospitals across the country to be considered for possible exclusion from load-shedding in a phased approach. It said 67% of the hospitals are supplied directly by municipalities while Eskom supplies the remaining 33%.
The preliminary network analysis conducted revealed 28 hospitals can be excluded from load-shedding by building new infrastructure at an estimated cost of R100m.
The updated list of exempted facilities in provinces are: Gauteng (17);, KwaZulu-Natal (15); Free State (14); Limpopo (10); Eastern Cape (7); Mpumalanga (4); Western Cape (4); Northern Cape (1), and; North West (0).
The department said a team led by director-general Dr Sandile Buthelezi and Eskom group executive for distribution Monde Bala is working with authorities in Northern Cape and North West on alternative solutions to implement exemption of hospitals “in line with the commitment made to ensure no province is left behind”.
“This is despite the technical challenges experienced, which include the electricity configuration of the networks in most areas in which some hospitals are found, which makes it difficult to immediately isolate them.”
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